ABOUT TOWN

If you want to find a decent pizza with freshly-made mixed salads then you could do far worse than the Green Crest Pizza Bar on Vladimirsky Prospect.

It's the nearest thing St Petersburg has to offer to Pizza Hut or Pizzaland and as its bright green crosses are just five minutes' walk from Dostoyevskaya Metro you can't miss it.

This is not a sit-down restaurant. If you are prepared to stand around raised circular tables with other diners you'll find the food not only delicious but reasonable.

A medium deep pan pizza will set you back around 5,000 roubles and with a mixture of salads -- bean, carrot, onion and coleslaw, you can round off your meal with a coffee for around 10,000 roubles.

The staff, mostly female, are extremely helpful.

Although they don't speak much English they will be patient enough to help you order.

Another speciality at this pizza bar is smoked sausage with mustard and bread which seemed a favorite among the locals popping in and out during their lunchhours. When I ate lunch there, it was packed.

Of course, there are other pizza joints in St Petersburg -- notably the rather dowdy establishment on Rubinshteina. Take your taste buds for a treat. Green Crest is the best yet.